Hollywood came to Hay-on-Wye on Saturday night as actor Rob Lowe arrived at
the festival to shrieks of "I love you Rob".

The 47-year-old star arrived by helicopter to be interviewed by Mariella Frostrup, the broadcaster, but was mobbed by female fans.

The biggest cheer came when he admitted that he would consider pursuing a career in politics - having been asked if he intended to follow in Arnold Schwarzenegger's footsteps.

Lowe said: "People have started to ask me about that and I do have an interest in service.

"I love my country, and at some point in my life, I would like to serve. My experience of politicians is that people who serve are doing it for the right reasons. There are, however, idiots in both parties [Democrats and Republicans]."

Lowe, the star of films including The Outsiders and St Elmo's Fire, discussed his career and his new autobiography, Stories I Only Tell My Friends.

He said that his role as the White House spin doctor Sam Seaborn in the hit television show The West Wing, starring opposite Martin Sheen from 1999 to 2003, had given him a taste for politics.

Recounting a memorable meeting with then President Bill Clinton during his tenure at The White House, he said: "Whenever I went to Washington DC while I was in the show, I was treated like I was a member of The Beatles.

"I remember being in the Oval Office with the then President, Bill Clinton, and Aaron Sorkin [the creator/writer of The West Wing]. We started chatting and before I knew it Bill was pitching us plot lines and story ideas."

Lowe also spoke of the 1998 sex scandal that nearly ended his career, when a videotape emerged of him having sex with two women, one of whom was 16, while he was campaigning for Michael Dukakis, the Democrat presidential candidate.

The actor, who battled an addiction to alcohol, has always claimed that he did not know one of the women was 16, but the incident dented his film career and he went into rehab soon afterwards.

He said: "Today, celebrities do that kind of thing on purpose and they make millions of dollars and sometimes it even improves their careers.

"What I found extraordinary was that after it happened, I turned on the TV and there was my sex tape at the top of the news, ahead of a story about a protest in Tiananmen Square.

"But I never felt that my career was over, even after that low point. I was always optimistic and if you're going to make it, you have to live through the high points and the low points.

"When I finally got sober, a large part of me stopped caring what people thought of me."